Shape & Collide
by siqwithaQ
Summary: The Mugiwara crew docks at an island in the New World, where Luffy bumps into... Ace, Sabo, and Luffy? One Luffy learns how life could have been if he had set out to sea with his brothers, and another learns how it could have turned out if he hadn't.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Shape and Collide

Summary: The Mugiwara crew dock at an island in the New World, where Luffy bumps into… Ace, Sabo, and Luffy? One Luffy learns how life could have been if he had set out to sea with his brothers, and another learns how it could have turned out if he hadn't.

A/N: Pre-Punk Hazard. (And yes, I am starting yet another story. What of it? I'm working on even more that I haven't posted.)

* * *

><p>Captain Portgas D Ace of the Wild Card Pirates surveyed the island from the deck of his ship. There was no beach, only a cliff face, and on top of that were tall, densely clustered trees that gave no hint of what they could be hiding. Still, the island looked deserted.<p>

"Oi," he called over his shoulder, catching the attention of some crewmembers who were flipping through record books. "Do we know what island this is?"

One of them shook his head, nearly losing his glasses, and flipped a few more pages. "We're looking, but we haven't found any mention of cliffs and pine trees and no people — at least not in that combination. Are you certain none of those trees are purple?"

Ace nodded.

"No luck, then. Maybe if it had a volcano or two… No, never mind. We can't find it," the crewman, Roscoe, said.

Ace turned to his right, where his brother and co-captain Sabo was leafing through another book at a much more leisurely pace than the others. "What do you think?"

Sabo shrugged. "New World islands are unpredictable. At least it isn't like that one with the floating piranhas."

Ace grinned again, then leaned towards his brother and said; "I think we ought to check it out for ourselves. First hand experience and all that."

Sabo smirked back. "Proposing an excursion, are we?"

Another one of the crewmen looked up from his book suddenly. "Captains! We don't know what could be on that island; what if it's dangerous out there?"

The cliff face was really only a little taller than the level of their deck. Ace and Sabo had already stepped onto land without much problem.

"_Captains!_ You should at least try to prepare yourselves; you might get attacked!"

Ace and Sabo gave a smirk and an eye roll, respectively. "That's why Luffy's staying put," they said in unison.

There was a sneeze behind them, and the crewmen turned to see their third co-captain Luffy, asleep on the deck and shivering slightly in his red vest, shift onto his side.

"And someone get the damn kid a blanket," Ace ordered.

Giving up, Roscoe sighed dejectedly. "Stick together, at least, will you?"

The brothers laughed, but hollered a half-mocking 'aye!' over their shoulders as they headed into the thick of the trees.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Ace turned to Sabo. "Want to split up?"

"Definitely."

* * *

><p>Ace entered a clearing with one question on his mind; where the hell was he? And while that question could, in fact, refer to the still enigmatic island or even broader philosophical ponderings, Ace was thinking of it more in terms of where the hell he was in relation to the ship.<p>

Generally speaking, he _could_ walk in any random direction and inevitably find the shore, but then again… He had only seen one part of that shore. Who knew what dangers lurked elsewhere?

Grinning to himself, Ace began to walk in a random direction.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of red cloth, black hair, and a straw hat. _Was that…?_

It was. When he turned to get a better look, there was Luffy, back turned from him. The boy appeared to be examining the trees, and he held a basket brimming with pale blue fruit in one hand.

"Luffy!" he called, grin growing ever wider as Luffy turned. "You come down to join us?"

Luffy blinked slowly at the sight of him and frowned. Then he shook his head, turned away, and walked briskly into the trees. Ace rushed after him, a little confused and slightly miffed.

"Luffy! Oi!" he yelled, frown deepening as Luffy sped up even more. "Where are you going?"

He received no answer and broke into a run to catch up to Luffy, grabbing his upper arm and forcing the boy to face him. "Wh–"

He stopped at the expression on his brother's face. Most prominent in it was disbelief, but there were smaller emotions that flitted across it for fractions of a second — confusion, wonderment, shock, and, possibly, pain. He stared at Ace's hands as if he were surprised they were solid.

What was going on?

Then Ace realised the arm he was holding was covered by fabric. He looked down curiously. When had Luffy changed clothes? He hadn't had sleeves even half an hour ago, and Luffy didn't usually change clothes more regularly than laundry day came around, unless he had spilled something on himself (and sometimes not even then). Luffy had apparently changed into some sort of cardigan at some point for some reason, and even more strangely, he wore a yellow sash around his waist. Something more worrying caught his eyes as they trailed up from the sash.

"God, Lu! Where the fuck did that wound come from?" His grip tightened unconsciously on Luffy's arm as he thought about how much whoever did that to his little Luffy would suffer when he got his hands on them.

This seemed to snap Luffy back to reality, as not a second later he pulled away from Ace, turned, and ran. His basket of fruit was left forgotten on the ground.

"Lu!"

* * *

><p>Back on the Wild Cards' ship, the crewmen on deck looked over as Luffy sneezed again. He really should be wearing something warmer than a sleeveless vest and shorts…<p>

* * *

><p>Sabo looked in front of him, then behind him, and then in front of him again. He frowned in thought. The trees were most definitely in different places the two times he looked ahead. He looked backwards again.<p>

There was nothing for it. The trees were rearranging themselves.

He sighed. And he had been intending to use the landmarks to return to the ship, too.

Grimacing and wishing for what must have been the two-hundred seventy-six thousandth time that he had Luffy's infamous good luck, he set off into the trees and left his course to chance.

Unfortunately for him, Sabo obviously did not have Luffy's infamous good luck, or anything near it. He had only been walking ten seconds before something slammed into him, knocking him onto his back. The projectile lay on top of him.

"The hell– Luffy?"

The projectile opened his eyes, looking down at Sabo questioningly. "You know me?"

Sabo rolled his eyes. "Of course I know you. It's me."

Luffy's eyes narrowed, for some inexplicable reason. It was almost as if… "Me who?" As if he didn't recognise his own brother.

"…Me, Sabo." The feeling of wrongness intensified. The strange look Luffy gave him at his words did nothing to help this.

Luffy groaned and rolled off of Sabo, coming to lie side by side with him. "Of course it is. You know I thought I saw Ace today too?" His eyes closed. "Except it wasn't really. His tattoos were wrong."

"Tattoos?" Sabo couldn't help but venture. "He's only got the one."

Luffy's eyes opened and met Sabo's. A pang of some unreadable emotion passed through them before Luffy shook his head, as if drawing himself from a reverie, and stood up. "Gotta ignore it," he said quietly, but it didn't stop Sabo from hearing it.

"Ignore what?" He received no response.

"Ignore it," Luffy whispered instead, staring at a passing cloud. Sabo tried to catch his eye from the ground, but Luffy was looking anywhere but at him. "Ignore it." Luffy set into the bush with determination; the trees seemed to sense this and cleared a path for him as he went.

"Wait!" Sabo jumped to his feet and followed quickly. "What are we ignoring?"

Luffy did not speak again. He did not acknowledge Sabo, either, but Sabo trailed him anyway. The pursuit of Luffy led him to the shore, where an unfamiliar ship sat glaringly by the cliffs.

A red-haired girl was standing close to where they exited the forest, examining the terrain, and she took notice of them. "Oh, Luffy?" Her eyes slid to Sabo. "Who's he?"

Sabo tensed. _How does she know Luffy's name?_ "I'm Sabo," he said, more calmly than he felt. "And you would be?"

"Nami," she said, watching Luffy with curiosity and something like concern — Sabo looked over to see his brother speechless and a little bit paler than was usual of him.

"You can see him too?" Luffy asked the girl. "I thought he was a…"

What Luffy thought Sabo was, they didn't find out. They were interrupted as Ace crashed out of the trees, swearing with impressive volume.

"STUPID FUCKING BEESHIT BLUE-FRUITED LABYRINTH–"

"Hey Ace," Sabo said, indifferent.

Ace blinked and finally seemed to realise he had company. "Oh, hey." A second later, his eyes landed on Nami and narrowed. "Who's she?"

"This is Nami," Sabo told him. He turned to Nami tell her Ace's name, but he was surprised to see that she had blanched.

"Ace…?" she asked hoarsely, eyes wide. She turned to Luffy in question, but the lost look on his face matched hers.

Sabo traded a glance with Ace. "I'm sorry, what's going on? Luffy, you aren't acting like yourself…"

A similar glance passed between Luffy and Nami. They were silent for a second before Luffy nodded at her, as if he were giving permission.

"How about you come over to our ship," she suggested, "and we can talk about things there."

* * *

><p>"Ros<em>coe<em>," Luffy whined. "I want to explore too!"

Roscoe looked up from the book in front of him, pushed his glasses back into place, and frowned. "You know the other Captains would kill me if I let you."

"How would they know you did? _I _wouldn't tell them, and _you_ wouldn't tell them, so…"

"No, Luffy. Do you think you should be getting up at all? You were sneezing quite a bit in your sleep," said Roscoe. "If you're sick, you need your rest."

"I'm _fine_!" Luffy protested. "I just want to see the island, that's all."

Roscoe sighed. "If you really want to, you can get off the ship and play by the shore, but that's it."

Luffy beamed at him, running to the side of the deck and hopping onto land.

"Don't go into that forest!" Roscoe called before returning to his book. His glasses slid down his nose immediately.

The second Roscoe's eyes were off him, Luffy's grin turned mischievous and he darted off. He would stay by the _shore_, sure, but he was never told to stay by the _ship_.

* * *

><p>Inside the unfamiliar ship's galley, Nami gestured for Ace and Sabo to take a seat at the table. She and Luffy joined them.<p>

After a silence, Sabo asked, "Where's the rest of your crew?"

"On the island somewhere," said Nami. "They like to explore."

"You don't have anyone guarding your ship?"

"Of course we do," she said. "Zoro and Franky are still here… somewhere."

Sabo nodded, surveying the interior of the ship curiously. The exterior had certainly been… something, and as of yet the inside had proven no less boggling to look at.

"Who's your captain?" Ace asked. He had tried to get a solid look at the flag when they boarded, but there was practically no wind and it lay obscured against the mast.

"I am," Luffy answered curtly.

The co-captains chuckled. "Good one, Lu."

"What's so good about it?" Luffy asked, arms crossed.

Ace's brow furrowed, and Sabo drew his lips into a taut line.

"You aren't _serious_, are you?"

"You can't be their captain. You already have a crew."

"Of course he does," Nami snapped. She looked entirely too annoyed to be reasonable. "We've been his crew for years now."

Ace shook his head and looked back at Luffy. "Lu, if you've been having a second crew on the side–"

"Shut up, you moron," Sabo said, swatting Ace over the head for good measure. "You make it sound like he's having an affair. But seriously, Luffy, you need to start explaining. _Now_."

Luffy gave them a look of such intense disbelief for a second, and they got the feeling he thought they were incredibly stupid. Which, coming from _Luffy_… "A couple years ago, when I turned seventeen," he began slowly, still giving them the look, "I went out to sea to be a pirate. I made a crew. Nami is my navigator, and this is my ship, the Thousand Sunny." He nodded his head to the walls. "That's it."

"That can't be it," Ace said. "What about us? You were still fourteen when we left and we've been around you the entire time since. If you want to make up a story you can at least make one that makes _sense_!"

"Ace," Sabo warned. "You're losing your temper."

"I was fourteen when _you_ left," Luffy agreed, "but I didn't leave with you."

Doubt crossed Ace's features for a brief moment. It left just as quickly. "…Yeah, you did."

"I have to agree with the moron on this one," Sabo said, ignoring the glare the 'moron' sent his way. "We were there. We were all there."

"I wasn't," Luffy muttered, but didn't provoke the issue further — not directly. "Where did you two come from?"

"The ship?" Sabo tried. "And before that we were on that island that had the obsession with the number four…"

"Annoying, but better than the flying piranhas," said Ace. "But then, _everything_ is better than the flying piranhas in my book."

Nami opened her mouth but never had the chance to speak, because at that moment the door opened and a dark-haired woman entered.

* * *

><p>Shortly before this, Luffy was much further from the ship than he had expected to get. He was delighted. Usually someone would have found him by now and dragged him back to appease his brothers' protective instincts.<p>

Just as this crossed his mind, a figure of a woman appeared in the distance. Didn't Roscoe say the island was uninhabited? And he hadn't seen any other ships docked. She had to be part of the crew.

His shoulders slumped in defeat. Fighting a pout, he approached her, ready to go back with only minimal complaining. It didn't matter that much, anyway, and his brothers _would_ freak out.

When he got to her, though, she only gave him a slight smile and a nod of acknowledgement before turning back to the book in her hands and jotting down some notes. Now that he had gotten a good look at her, he froze.

He did not recognise this woman — not immediately. She was not one of his crew.

She looked up when she noticed him tensing. "Luffy? Is something the matter?"

That was it. He recognised her, but he wasn't glad of it. "Miss All-Sunday?" he yelped; she gave him a politely baffled look. He hadn't seen her since the mess in Alabasta two years ago, and back then she had… she was…

"Luffy," she said gently, "I believe you are out of sorts. Would you like me to take you back to the ship? We can have Chopper look you over when he returns."

Out of sorts? Roscoe did suggest he might be sick… Maybe he wasn't seeing what was really there. When 'Miss All-Sunday' held out her hand to him, he took it hesitantly. What could be the harm in seeing this Chopper person?

He let his former enemy lead him away.

* * *

><p>In the galley of the Thousand Sunny, the dark-haired woman's eyes widened by a small fraction. Her lips held an amused smile. "My, my. It seems we have something interesting on our hands."<p>

She referred, from her own perspective, to the fact that a dead man and a stranger were sitting by their table, and that there were two copies of her captain at that very point in time.

Ace and Sabo, however, were unaware of this.

"And who's she?" Ace asked Luffy.

"Ace!" the other Luffy said upon hearing his brother's voice. He peaked around Miss All-Sunday so that he could see into the galley. "And Sabo! And… me?"

A silence passed over the six of them — Ace, in particular, looked as if his brain had been fried. Miss All-Sunday chuckled.

"Very interesting indeed."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Wow, this fic got a lot of attention very quickly... I'm impressed. Warning for those unfamiliar with my work: I am typically not a fast updater. This may be updated quicker than my other stories, but the general warning stands.

* * *

><p>"You're not Luffy, then," Ace concluded. "Not really."<p>

"I am Luffy," he said, "but I'm not _that_ Luffy."

_That_ Luffy and Sabo were, at the moment, being treated to a comprehensive tour of the Sunny by Franky himself. Ace had begged off and was instead sitting on the deck next to _that_ Luffy's alternate. A little ways away Nami was tending to her mikan trees, and Ace couldn't help noticing the way she glanced at the two of them every few minutes.

"And this is really your crew? And your ship?" His eyes looked a little bit sadder as he said, "And we… Sabo and I didn't have anything to do with it?"

Luffy beamed proudly. "Yup! Aren't they great?"

_We really aren't a part of your life?_ Ace wanted to ask.

He never got the chance to, however. Unfamiliar laughter from three different voices rang out, one sounding distinctly of 'yo-ho-ho'. It seemed to mean something to Luffy, because he jumped up eagerly and rushed to the side of the deck.

"Hey guys!"

"Hello, Luffy," said a small, fuzzy creature. The antlers protruding from its hat made Ace think it could be some kind of baby moose.

The baby moose was followed by a teenage boy with a long nose and fishing hat, and then a flamboyantly dressed skeleton. The boy and the skeleton were chatting between each other with singular attention, while the baby moose was exchanging greetings with Ace's brother's doppelganger.

Ace would have said he had seen stranger in all his years on the Grand Line, but it would have been a lie. Just what kind of crew did this Luffy have?

"Oh, and we have guests," Luffy told the baby moose, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at Ace.

The baby moose looked around Luffy and gasped immediately when it saw Ace, backpedalling until it knocked into the boy in the fishing hat. "Usopp!" it cried, tugging on the boy's baggy trousers. "Look! It's–"

Usopp turned away from the skeleton and, seeing Ace, his darkly tanned skin paled. "W– B-b-but he–"

"Why hello!" the skeleton interrupted, stepping around Usopp. "I didn't see you standing there. How impolite of me. Let me introduce myself; I am Soul King Brook. And your name is?"

"Ace," he said, taking the skeleton's outstretched hand. The bony fingers felt very disconcerting against his skin.

Even more disconcertingly, Brook froze as soon as he said his name. For a second, he was so still he looked well and truly dead. Then, he turned questioning eye sockets on Luffy.

"He's not the Ace you guys know," Luffy explained. "He's different."

"Different how?" Usopp asked. Ace thought he sounded a little bit suspicious.

"Alternate universe different," Ace answered.

Usopp's suspicion didn't seem to lessen. "Isn't that a little farfetched?"

"I guess," Ace shrugged, "but we're in the New World. This place is farfetched as a rule."

Usopp conceded at this point, and Brook laughed with a distinctive 'yo-ho-ho' sound. The baby moose poked its head out a little more from where it was attempting to hide behind Usopp.

"I'm Chopper," it said. "I'm the ship's doctor."

"Oh, really?" Ace asked, fighting hard against the urge to laugh incredulously. It was absurd but it didn't seem like a joke.

Chopper nodded quickly and turned to Luffy. "Are the others back already? W–"

A door that led below decks opened and _that_ Luffy came tumbling out of it, laughing madly. He was followed by a man with green hair, scars, and a twirled moustache in red marker.

"You little–!" the man cried, catching Luffy in his arms as the boy yelped.

"Let him go!" Sabo yelled, emerging from the door as well. "He was just having fun!"

"Put my baby brother down!" Ace put in, drawing the man's attention.

The man stopped, eyes glued to Ace as Luffy squirmed in his arms. "Eh?" The man's eyes slid from Ace and onto the Straw Hat Captain, and then back to the Luffy he was holding. "_Eh_?"

"Zoro!" Nami shrieked from above. "Put the poor boy down this instant or I'll increase your debt!"

Zoro showed no reaction to her words except to drop Luffy on the grassy deck. His gaze went from one Luffy to the other to Ace and back again. Then he looked at Sabo. "Oi, you. The hell's all this?"

Nami sighed once again and rubbed her temples. "Let's wait until everyone's back. I don't want to have to keep explaining this."

* * *

><p>Luffy flopped onto the bed tiredly and buried his face into the pillow. "Must <em>sleeeeeep<em>," he moaned.

Ace chuckled and sat next to his brother, reaching over to run his fingers through Luffy's hair. "Go ahead, kiddo. It's been a long day." Luffy began to snore softly not a second later, so Ace continued to Sabo, "They said this was the Captain's Quarters?"

"That's what they told me," said Sabo. He was looking through the drawers in a large desk on the opposite wall. "Doesn't look like anyone uses it, though."

"Very different from ours," Ace noted a little sadly. "It's not nearly as lived in."

Sabo knew the source of his brother's distress; he was feeling the very same. "We'll get back to our crew tomorrow," he said, "but it's too dark to do much of anything right now."

"I know," said Ace. He paused. "The people here — the other Luffy's crew… they look at me like I'm some sort of monster."

"At least they knew who you are." Sabo closed one of the drawers rather more roughly than necessary. "They recognised _you_, but Luffy had to introduce me to every one of them. Why? Did he never mention me to them before?"

Ace shifted uneasily, having no good answer to offer. Instead, he changed the subject. "What about that woman? The older one — Robin. Doesn't she look like that agent from… from that organisation we ran into two years ago?"

"Baroque Works?"

"That. What was her name again? Miss something. Miss… Every-Friday?"

"All-Sunday," Luffy murmured. Ace and Sabo looked at him, but he was still fast asleep.

"Miss All-Sunday," Ace repeated. "The one who–"

They shuddered as the memory caught up to them.

"Let's not mention it," said Sabo, shaking his head, "and just hope it isn't really her. I don't know if I could stand to… Never mind. Let's just go to s…"

"What?"

"There's only one bed."

"Oh, yeah," Ace scowled, "because the other Luffy's the _only_ captain. So of course he only needs one bed! Not that he uses it, anyway."

"You're still upset he's on his own?"

"You know why I'm upset." Ace crossed his arms, scowl intensifying. "He went out and probably did hundreds of recklessly stupid things and he did it all without us–"

"And we, er, the other us, _they agreed_ to that, moron. It's not like he was betraying them."

"That's what makes it so bad! What kind of jerks are we in his universe if we left him all alone on that damn island for three years? And the way everyone's reacted…" His eyes widened in horror. "Do you think he resents me?"

Sabo's eyes widened similarly, but for a different reason. "What? No! You're just being thick again. I'm sure it's nothing like that."

"But you admit it's _something_."

"You know what? Forget it. Go to bed." Sabo tossed some of the extra sheets Nami gave them at Ace. "We're leaving in the morning and we won't ever have to think about these people again."

* * *

><p>Later that night, while Ace and Luffy were snoring deeply, Sabo was unable to sleep (which, despite what one may think, had nothing to do with his brothers' loud snores — actually, it had more to do with the fact that Sabo was unfortunately trying to sleep on the wooden floor while Ace and Luffy shared the bed). After tossing and turning for several hours he finally gave up.<p>

Standing, he carefully moved his brothers farther from the edge of the mattress before leaving the room. He went up to the deck and, after some thought, climbed the mast towards the watch platform — more of an entire room on this ship.

When he pulled himself up through the hatch he found a member of the other Luffy's crew on watch duty. It was the chef, the blond one who dressed roughly but formally, and predominantly in the colour blue.

Luffy couldn't _really_ resent them. Could he?

The chef, Sanji, was smoking a cigarette, a habit Sabo noticed he stuck to at any spare moment. "You're still awake?"

"Couldn't sleep," Sabo answered. "There's only one bed and I took the floor."

"You could just ask Franky to add another bed or two." He exhaled some smoke. "Shitty cyborg wouldn't mind."

"I don't see the point, really. We're only going to stay one night anyway," said Sabo, shaking his head.

Sanji nodded and returned his attention to the watch. They sat in silence for a few moments before it occurred to Sabo to ask, "So… Does your Luffy talk about us?"

Sanji glanced at him with surprise for a moment before responding, "He doesn't talk about the past unless it's important in the present."

"So we're just the past to him? Unimportant?" Sabo frowned.

"Yes," said Sanji, "and no. That's not what I meant."

"What did you mean?"

"He doesn't mention things unless there's a reason to mention them. We never even thought he might have siblings at all until we actually _met_ Ace."

This gained Sabo's full interest. "You met Ace? …What was he like?"

"Nice enough guy. Politer than I'd expected — just as crazy, though. He didn't stay for long."

"Have you seen him since?"

Sanji gave him a long look, lowering his cig from his mouth. "It's Sabo, right?" At the other blond's nod, "Sabo, do me a favour."

"What's that?"

"Don't talk about him."

"Why not?" He frowned again, Ace's words repeating in his mind. _They look at me like I'm some sort of monster._

Sanji sighed. "It's just kind of a sore issue, alright? Especially for the shitty captain."

That was another thing he couldn't understand about the other Luffy's crew; they disrespected him as if it were just an everyday thing. He supposed it was, for them.

More of a problem, however, was; "Why? Did your Ace do something to Luffy?"

Sanji looked at him as though he had grown a second head, lopped it off, and started juggling with it. "Wh–"

The hatch opened again, cutting Sanji off, and the green-haired swordsman — what was his position anyway? Was he the first mate or just another crewman? — entered.

"Oi, ero-cook," the swordsman, Zoro, said gruffly, ignoring Sabo completely. "It's my watch."

"Yeah, yeah, you shitty moss," Sanji grumbled, putting out his cigarette.

"What was that?"

"I called you a shitty moss."

"Pansy–" His insult was broken by a yawn. "–Dartbrow."

It looked as if the situation might devolve into one of the vitriolic fights Sabo had witnessed between the two that afternoon, but fortunately, Sanji decided he would rather get some sleep. Zoro himself was too tired to goad him further.

Sabo's eyes lingered on the hatch as the sound of Sanji's descent grew quieter and Zoro settled himself into a comfortable position. When Sabo turned around, ready to start his questions all over again, Zoro was already asleep.

Sabo ran a hand through his hair and moved to take a more comfortable seat. He wasn't going to get any sleep that night, anyway, and _someone_ needed to do the watch.

* * *

><p>Sabo returned to the captain's quarters the next morning to find Luffy awake and hovering over a sleeping Ace. He smiled to himself at the sight.<p>

Then he realised Luffy was hovering over a sleeping Luffy as well.

"Hey," said Sabo, causing Luffy to jump slightly and wheel around. "What are you doing here?"

"Sanji asked me to wake you guys up for breakfast…"

Sabo hazarded a glance at his brothers. "They don't look very awake to me."

"I was getting to that part," Luffy responded bashfully. "Where've you been?"

Sabo looked between Luffy, Ace, and the other Luffy, and decided on a gut instinct to lie. "I was in the bathroom."

Luffy tilted his head. "The one Nami is taking a bath in?"

Well, shit. "Yes?"

"Does she know?"

"No… Please don't tell her."

"It's alright, I won't tell." Luffy nodded once, then walked past him towards the door. "Just use the other one next time!"

Then he slipped away, leaving Sabo to stand there feeling foolish.

* * *

><p>"Alright," Ace said, cracking his knuckles. "I guess we're doing this the hard way."<p>

On the sidelines, Luffy yawned. Sabo glanced at the sky, where the sun was reaching past its penultimate point for the day. The two shared a glance with each other as Ace stared down the "enemy" in front of him.

With a battle cry, Ace ran straight into the trees. His brothers watched him go, showing no reaction when he was mercilessly launched back to the shore.

Ace groaned, rolling onto his side.

Luffy yawned again.

"It's no use, Ace," said Sabo. "We've been trying all morning."

"Then we'll have to try harder," Ace said, teeth gritted.

"But I'm huuuungry," Luffy whined. "I want to eat!"

"How about we go back inside for a while?" Sabo suggested. "We can regroup. Have a meal. Try again with a new perspective."

"And what, just leave the crew to fend for themselves?" Ace hopped to his feet and began pacing. "No, we can't just do that—"

"They're strong. They can take care of themselves when we're not there."

"We can't just _do _that!" Ace stopped himself and took a deep breath, running a hand over his face. "We gotta find a way back."

"Well we're not going to do it like this!" Sabo yelled. He moved forward and grabbed Ace by the shoulder. "Come on. How much does an hour or two really matter? Does it _change _things? It's just time!"

Ace was quiet, eyes shadowed beneath the brim of his hat. A second passed — two. "Does an hour change things?" Ace repeated, nearly whispering. He looked furious. "Don't. You. _E__ver._ Say things like that again. Do you have any idea how much — _guilt_ — that could put on you, if you're wrong?"

Sabo took a step back, looking his brother directly in the eyes. "I have a pretty good idea."

"Ace."

Said man turned around to find Luffy standing behind him, calmer than it was at all fair to be. He laid a hand on Ace's arm. "It's okay."

The older deflated slightly. "How is it okay?"

"We'll go back to our nakama when we can," said Luffy. "But we can't yet, so we won't." His grip slid down Ace's arm to his hand, which he took in his own and began leading Ace back to the alternate crew's ship. "We'll work on it, right?"

Sabo smiled slightly, watching his two brothers walk off together, hand in hand, Luffy in the lead. "What would I do without him?" he asked himself.

The wind blew through the trees, leaving behind the sound of ruffling leaves.

Sabo smirked. "That's what I figured."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I was thinking I might start doing personal replies to reviews…? I've just always thought that it's really nice when authors do that, but I've never done it myself because… I don't know why. So I was thinking, maybe I could try it out with this story, and if it works out apply it to some of my other fics.

Okay, replies starting as of this chapter!

* * *

><p>They found Sanji serving up lunch when they walked into the galley. The other crew stopped what they were doing as they arrived, regarding them curiously.<p>

"Back again?" Sanji asked around his current cigarette.

Sabo nodded. "The trees won't let us through. Looks like we'll be here longer than we thought."

Almost simultaneously, the Mugiwara crew's eyes darted to their captain. It lasted for barely a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Sabo to notice. He decided to pretend he didn't.

"Did you make enough for us to join you?" Sabo asked, directed at Sanji. As the chef went back to the kitchen to whip something up, he and his brothers took seats around the table.

Slowly, the other crew began to eat, until it was only their captain staring pensively down at his meal.

Sabo glanced at Ace and their Luffy, but the two of them were watching the kitchen impatiently. Thanking God his brothers thought with their stomachs, he looked back at the other Luffy — who was gazing right at him.

They met eyes and Sabo felt almost locked in place. The look in Luffy's eyes was intense and piercing; he'd never seen anything like it on his own Luffy's face. He was suddenly hyperaware that the two of them were directly across from each other, and the slow, somehow hesitant clink-and-chew of the Mugiwaras eating became stifling, claustrophobic.

Just as Sabo stopped being able to breathe, an arm clothed in blue broke his line of sight by placing a plate piled with food in front of him. He looked up to see Sanji placing similar plates in front of his brothers as the Mugiwaras' clink-and-chew gained speed.

By the time he looked at Luffy again, the other captain was shovelling food into his mouth rapidly, arms stretching all over the table.

Next to Sabo, Ace growled, knocking a rubber hand away from his plate. His brows furrowed in frustration at the same thing that had made them lift in confusion that morning: the other Luffy was a food thief.

Their own Luffy had already finished the (much higher than theirs) plate Sanji had given him, but instead of stealing more he was giving Ace his trademark puppy-dog eyes. Half of Ace's plate quickly disappeared into Luffy's stomach.

The Mugiwaras seemed just as baffled by their Luffy's behaviour as they were by the Mugiwaras'.

"That's just not right," one of them, Usopp, said quietly as he watched Sabo give his brother a steak. The other Luffy stole it immediately.

* * *

><p>"Thank you for letting me borrow your books, Robin-san."<p>

The woman's eyes glimmered in the sun as she smiled at him with what looked like amusement. "It is far from a problem, Sabo-kun."

He smiled back somewhat warily; she still, after all, reminded him uncomfortably of Miss All-Sunday. He knew, though, that he would have to trust her if he was going to stick around the Thousand Sunny much longer, as she was exceedingly helpful. Already, the two of them had a theory of where they were: the Island of Miar, which was said to be able to alternate between thousands of versions of its own appearance, and to somehow bring together different versions of those who walked upon its soil.

Sabo sighed to himself. There was very little written anywhere about Miar, and nothing about navigating it; if he was to get back to the Wild Cards, it seemed like it would be on the island's terms, not his own. Ace would be _ecstatic_.

Sabo looked across the deck, where his brother was fishing with one half of the doppelganger duo and two of the Mugiwaras. The fact that Ace and Luffy, of all people, liked fishing was amazing to him. He himself never had the patience for it.

"Ace!" their Luffy called, emerging from below decks. He raced across the deck to his brother, and just as he was maybe a metre away he tripped — and all of a sudden both Luffys were tumbling into the ocean.

In a flash, Ace was in behind them, and Usopp — who had been fishing with them — was yelling for the green-haired swordsman before jumping in himself. The baby moose had already tried to jump in but was restricted by three arms that popped up to catch him.

Sabo ran over to the railing and arrived just as Zoro dived in, his heart hammering so hard it didn't have the time to drop at the realisation that Robin had just used Miss All-Sunday's power. "Oh, fuck," he muttered as Robin approached. "This isn't good. Your Luffy's a devil fruit user, isn't he?"

A gleam of curiosity entered her eye. "Yes," she said. "Isn't yours?"

He smirked. "I would have figured you could guess by the way he was eating, compared to yours."

"I merely assumed he was better versed in etiquette." Robin glanced down at the water, where Usopp had come up for air. "Your Luffy is not a devil fruit user, and still he cannot swim?"

"No," he said simply. He didn't want to explain to the woman who was Miss All-Sunday the reason, but he reminded himself — he had to trust her while he was here. He _had _to. "Luffy's got this — injury — on his back. And he can't swim because it acts up in water."

"An injury?" a concerned voice piped in. Sabo looked down to see the baby moose, Chopper, now released from the hana-hana arms. "Is it really that bad?"

"Uh, yeah," Sabo said, reminding himself that this creature was actually a doctor.

"I should take a look at that," Chopper said, peeking anxiously over the railing. "How did it happen?"

"U-um…" Sabo's eyes darted from Chopper to Robin.

Luckily for him, she seemed to pick up on his distress, and interrupted, "Is your Ace not a devil fruit user either?"

"No," Sabo answered gladly. "I'm the only fruit user out of the three of us. I ate the mera-mera no mi several years ago."

Robin's eyes shone in amusement. "Oh, really?"

"Ace ate that in our world!" was Chopper's input.

"Did he?" Sabo looked down at the baby moose in surprise. The other Mugiwaras hadn't been exactly keen to volunteer information about the other Ace. "Is he—"

At that moment there was a loud splash as his own Ace resurfaced, the Luffy wearing a vest in his arms. A second later, Zoro popped up as well, carrying the Luffy with sleeves. Usopp followed soon after.

Robin quickly offered them her arms; Zoro and Usopp simply took them and let themselves be pulled back up, but Sabo had no doubt Robin noticed Ace's hesitation. He recognised Miss All-Sunday's power as well, he was sure.

When they were up, the Luffys were laid down on deck. Chopper rushed back and forth between the two and Zoro and Ace resuscitated their respective Luffys with practised familiarity. The Mugiwara Luffy was up first.

Luffy hacked up lungfuls of water before gulping fresh air. His eyes fluttered open, and a second after taking in the situation, he grinned. "Thanks, Zoro! You saved me again!"

"No problem," Zoro said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm used to it."

"It wasn't my fault this time!" Sabo would have thought Luffy was protesting, but for some reason he sounded kind of proud. He pointed at his other self. "It was his!"

Just as Zoro looked over, the sleeveless Luffy opened his eyes with a gasp. Immediately, he tried to sit up, but he didn't get very far. He shuddered in pain, and Ace pushed him back down into a lying position. Chopper appeared at his side.

"Turn your head," Chopper instructed, placing one hoof on Luffy's shoulder and the other in the middle of his chest. Luffy did so, coughing, and the seawater that left his mouth soaked into the grass. "Does it still hurt?"

Luffy shifted experimentally, and a second later, shook his head.

Chopper nodded in response, easing back a little. "Well, that's good," he said, "but I still need to look you over, Luffy… L-Luffy-san. You should come down to the infirmary."

"What? Why?" The Mugiwara captain blinked. "He was only drowning."

"DON'T TREAT DROWNING SO LIGHTLY, LUFFY!"

"But I drown all the time!"

"THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING!"

Luffy pouted. "Fine, fine." He snuck a look at his other self, whom Ace was pulling to his feet. "I don't get it, though. He looks alright."

Chopper paused, shifting on his hooves. He glanced at Sabo. "I… I just want to give him a check up. Just in case."

Luffy shrugged, hopping over to Usopp and the abandoned fishing poles while the other him followed Chopper to the infirmary. Zoro took a seat nearby, in case the rubber captain fell in again, and soon fell asleep.

Robin was heading below decks on Chopper and Luffy's heels. Exchanging glances, Ace and Sabo jogged to catch up, but then—

"Ace," the other Luffy called from the side of the ship. "Aren't you going to fish with us?"

They paused, looked at Usopp and Luffy, and then at each other. After a second, Ace gave a single nod, and went back to join the two. Sabo couldn't help seeing the concerned look Usopp gave his captain as Luffy scooted over to make room for Ace on the railing.

Sabo backed away, and quickly disappeared to find the infirmary, where his little brother was in the hands of a practical stranger and a once enemy.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Luffy sat on the bed in the infirmary, swinging his legs as Chopper finished up his examination.<p>

A hoof pressed cautiously into the small of his back, right on the spine — the weakest spot left by the injury. Luffy jerked away from the touch, teeth digging into his tongue and the insides of his cheeks as slow burning, thrumming pain lanced up to his shoulder blades.

He felt a steadying hand on each shoulder, one slender and one very, very familiar, and opened the eyes he didn't know he'd closed. Robin and Sabo stood over him, watching and scrutinising for any further signs of pain; Robin retracted her hand, even as Sabo let his linger. Luffy was glad.

"I'm just concerned that it's still affecting you so much," Chopper said, handing Luffy back his discarded vest. "That injury has to be at least…"

"Twelve years old," Luffy supplied.

"By the recovery period and the way you run around, I would have thought a wound like that had healed," the doctor mused, "yet it still acts up?"

Sabo, hand still on Luffy's shoulder, said, "It was, um, agitated, a couple years ago. Badly."

Chopper nodded, and after a few similar tests along Luffy's spine, which Luffy did not find nearly as painful, he allowed his patient to leave.

Robin left with the two brothers as Chopper stayed behind to note some things down. She put a hand on Luffy's arm and felt him freeze under her fingers.

"Are you quite alright… Luffy-san?" she asked, loosening her grip and allowing him to slink out of her hold. "Your back must cause you a lot of trouble."

"Only in water," he said, choosing not to mention his one weak spot — not to her — even though she had clearly seen how it affected him. "I'm fine, really."

Robin nodded, but the crease of worry in her brow didn't dissipate. "Are you—"

"He said he's fine," Sabo interrupted, wrapping an arm around his little brother. "If you'll excuse us, we- we need to talk to Ace."

* * *

><p>"When those giants realised that they were in fact talking to the Great Captain Usopp, the honorary warrior of Elbaf, they immediately jumped to help! Together, we crossed great barren deserts that took the fastest of men days to walk in a matter of hours, and arrived in the nick of time to save the kingdom's beloved princess, Vivi!"<p>

"Liar," said Zoro. Ace could hear the fondness in his tone.

"It's completely true!" yelled Usopp, at which Luffy grinned.

"It is? Really?" Luffy asked, eyes sparkling. "That's amazing, Usopp!"

"Luffy, you were _there_."

"So?"

"So you know it didn't happen like that," Zoro reminded, making Luffy stop to think.

"Oh, yeah." Luffy looked back at Usopp, pushing a fist into his palm. He laughed. "Liar."

"Fine, so it wasn't true," Usopp grumbled with a shrug, returning his attention to his fishing pole. "At least it was entertaining."

"Very entertaining," Ace agreed. Usopp looked up at him with the same almost-shock he got from the Mugiwaras every time he spoke, but he could tell the sniper was inwardly pleased. "Like a fairy tale."

"W-well," Usopp said bashfully, adjusting his suspenders. From the corner of his eye, Ace could see Luffy beaming at their interaction. "That's nothing! There's a magical land in the sky that tells bedtime stories about when Luffy—"

"Ace!"

They all turned around at the yell — not including Zoro, who was already facing that direction — and saw Sabo standing by the door that led bellow decks, the other Luffy at his side. "We need to talk."

Ace immediately pulled up his line and began packing away his fishing rod, despite the Mugiwara captain's obvious disappointment. As Ace sped away after his brothers, three similarly distraught expressions settled on the faces of those left behind — though Usopp's and Zoro's were directed at their captain, rather than at Ace.

Ace made a note of that as he strode through the ship's halls behind his brothers. He swore to himself he _would_ find out what the other him did, even as the door the captain's quarter's closed behind him.

"She's _Every-Friday_!"

"All-Sunday," Sabo corrected, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming on.

"Whatever," said Ace. He began to pace in the opening from the bed to the desk. "It doesn't matter what her name is; we still can't trust her!"

"Her name's Robin," Luffy said, but his brothers ignored him.

"We're going to have to trust her, Ace. She's trying to help us get back to our crew. Even if we don't like it…"

"How the hell could we like it? How could we trust _her_?! After what she did to Luffy—"

"She did _nothing_ to me!" Luffy yelled, finally getting their attention — and their shock. "She's not Miss All-Sunday."

"What are you talking about, Lu?" Sabo asked as Ace gaped. "Didn't you see those arms? We already thought she might be _her_, but the fruit power seals it."

"She's not Miss All-Sunday," Luffy repeated. "She's _Robin_. I mean, I was upset too at first, but I thought about it. They're not really the same people, are they? Not more than me and… the other me."

"You're crazy," said Ace. "Crazier. Whatever. Are you saying we should trust her?"

"Yes, I am."

"I... I think he's right, Ace." Sabo ignored the shock on Ace's face. "I mean, Robin probably never even joined Baroque Works in this reality. Why would the other Lu have her on his crew if she had?"

Ace stared at them for several seconds. "That tears it — you're both insane. I mean, I know both of you are forgiving, but Luffy, you're the one she—"

"That's enough, Ace," Sabo interrupted, frown deep on his face. "We promised we wouldn't bring it up again, remember?"

"R-right," Ace mumbled. His cheeks heated up in sudden shame; they'd vowed not to talk about it in an attempt to stave off Luffy's nightmares about the incident. "Sorry."

"Forget about it." Sabo shook his head, walking over to the bed and flopping down on it. "Let's go to sleep — and _you_ get the floor this time."

* * *

><p>—Breathe—<p>

—_Throat sore from screaming, he can see amusement and curiosity mixing in a way that's almost fascination—_

—_old pains—_

—Breathe—

—_Arms—_

—_growing off his own body and holding him down—_

—_and her heel in the small of his back—_

—Breathe—

—_Throat weak from screaming and sand in his mouth, crunching between his teeth and sticking where there's blood—_

—_Decade old pains—_

—_Slow at first then white hot and—_

—_uncontrollable—_

—Breathe—

—_Almost fascination—_

—_Throat raw from screaming—_

—Breathebreathebreathe—

—_His legs giving out underneath him and he can't even breathe—_

—_and her eyes gleam—_

* * *

><p>Luffy woke up drenched in sweat and pressed into Sabo's chest. He didn't try to go back to sleep.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I couldn't remember whether the Mugiwaras had a tire swing or a regular swing, so I went with tire, because tire swings are cool. This one is a bit later coming than the others, but I tried to warn you. I'm not usually a fast updater.

* * *

><p>Luffy shivered as the pads of his bare feet touched the cold deck. The sun still hadn't risen, but he had left his older brothers behind in the captain's quarters to take a walk. He was trying to distract himself from the old memories of Miss All-Sunday, and the small, empty room didn't provide much for one to distract themselves with.<p>

In retrospect, he really should have bothered to put at least something on his feet, but Luffy never had been good at remembering to dress warmly.

Luffy rather liked the Thousand Sunny, as his other self's ship was called. It was colourful and cheerful, with something interesting waiting around each corner; it was exactly the kind of ship he would love to live on. That wasn't to say that he didn't adore his own ships as well — the Little Andrew had been his precious home for the last two years, and the Gail Jester had served them beautifully for the three before that.

But Little Andrew was a practical ship. Sabo had laid down some requirements to Tileston, the shipwright they'd picked up in Water Seven, and 'no grassy decks or tire swings' had probably been one of them.

Luffy really did like that grassy deck. He was standing on it now. Mm, grass at sea. Luffy wiggled his toes. Grass… at sea. God, was that nice. Almost as nice as the tire swing.

Reminded of that, he turned his head towards it, only to see that there was already someone standing by it, leaning on the rail and looking out to sea. If he squinted, he could make out a bushy ponytail and long lose. It was the one named Usopp.

Luffy walked over to him on a whim. "Hey," he said, making the sniper jump and spin on his heel. "What are you doing up?"

"L-Luffy?" Usopp asked. His eyes dropped slightly, looking over Luffy's vest, which was open to reveal an unblemished chest. "…Luffy-san?"

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep." Luffy approached the railing, Usopp's eyes trailing him, and took a position next to the other crew's sniper. The Wild Cards didn't have a sniper. But then, the Mugiwaras didn't have a fishman karate master either. "Are you on watch?"

"Nah," Usopp said. He seemed to relax a bit as he thumbed his nose. "Couldn't sleep. The guys are snoring louder than usual. I'd go up there," he gestured to the watch platform-slash-room, "but Franky's up there, and I'm not feeling _that_ energetic."

"He's your shipwright, yeah?" Luffy eyed the tire swing as he said so. He really wanted to try it. As in, a lot. "He's pretty cool. Where'd you meet him?"

Usopp puffed up proudly. "Of course he's cool! I helped him upgrade into a cyborg myself, you know."

"Wow! Really?"

"Eh, no," Usopp said, still smiling. "But he's awesome, isn't he? You haven't even seen his coolest tricks yet. Did he show you his nipple lights?"

Luffy shook his head. Franky had tried, when he was touring them on the Sunny, but Sabo had warned him off. He thought it could be 'potentially mentally scarring.' That, and something about Ace going ballistic if Luffy came back to him raving about some guy's nipples. Luffy had been too disappointed to listen much.

"And he has this _awesome_ shogun form now, too!" Usopp said, waving his hands excitably in the air. "When we first met him, he beat me up and took my money." He paused here and brought his hands down. "Uh, but we forgave him. We like him now."

Luffy gave Usopp a questioning look. He couldn't imagine forgiving anyone who hurt his nakama, much less welcome them to the crew. He hoped Franky had done something truly special to deserve it, because he really didn't want to think low enough of the other crew to believe that Robin could really be Miss All-Sunday.

"Your crew…" Luffy shook his head. "I don't really understand it."

Usopp blinked a few times, then rubbed the back of his head. "Well, do you think any of us would understand your crew either, if we met them? We barely understand you three."

"I guess." When Luffy thought about it, everyone in this crew had a specific title — except maybe the swordsman, though he could be the first mate. He wondered what they would make of the somewhat chaotic assignment of duties on the Little Andrew, plus Perona's self given title of 'interior decorator.' He wondered if they knew some of his crewmates as enemies, too. "And the little one with hooves is your doctor? I thought it was a pet…"

"So do the Marines," Usopp said with a snort. "But no, we don't have a pet."

"We do. His name's Sandora, he's a dugong from Alabasta," Luffy told him, grinning. "Ace beat him in a fight, and he started following us around. It was really funny! He tried following Ace into the bathroom once. Sabo laughed his ass off."

"Alabasta? I was telling — I was telling your brother about the time we went there earlier. He said you guys went too but not much else." Usopp shifted, his eyes landing on the tire swing as Luffy's had done earlier. "What'd you do when you were there?"

"Just things," Luffy answered quickly, instinctively. He could see Usopp was put out by the answer, but he and his brothers never spoke of that time. He decided to say just a little more, for the other's sake. "We took care of this shichibukai problem they had. That's all."

Usopp looked obviously relieved at this, and Luffy had the feeling they had done something similar. He hoped to hell and high water they did it differently than he had.

"Well, that's good," Usopp said, looking away. "Say, do you wanna—"

"Tire swing?" Luffy interrupted. They looked at each other for a long second, and then grinned.

* * *

><p>It hadn't taken them long to get stuck, back to back, wedged through the middle of the tire. They had stayed like that, feebly kicking their legs, until morning came and Ace and Sabo wandered onto the deck.<p>

Luffy's brothers proceeded to entertain themselves by passing the tire back and forth, Usopp and Luffy still stuck inside. This went on until Sanji called breakfast, and Ace and Sabo exchanged smirks before leaving them behind.

Five minutes later, Sanji came out searching for them. When he saw them, he was unimpressed.

"Hi, Sanji," Usopp said. "Can you help us out of here?"

"Fooooooood," Luffy whined, kicking his legs.

"Yeah, yeah," Sanji grumbled around his cigarette. He went around to side where their legs stuck out, and a second later Luffy was watching Usopp shoot out of the tire and skid a foot on the grass.

"Ohdamnitmyass!" Usopp groaned and curled up on his side. "Could someone please check if I'm still a virgin?"

"Do it yourself, shitty bastard."

"How come _he_ doesn't get a kick?" Usopp asked, gesturing at Luffy.

Sanji's eyes lingered on Luffy, exhaling a billow of smoke. "Chopper told us about your back problem."

"Oh," Luffy said. "Well, uh, thanks for not…"

"Don't mention it," Sanji said as he began to walk to the watchtower, calling up for Franky.

Luffy nodded, ignoring the curious eyes of Usopp. Apparently there were still people who needed to be told.

* * *

><p>When Usopp and Luffy bounded into the galley, the first thing Luffy did was pout at his laughing brothers. Ace and Sabo had saved him a seat beside them, but he put Usopp in it instead, and took a seat on the left of him.<p>

"Come on, Lu," Ace teased. "It wasn't that bad."

"It was mean!" said Luffy. "You almost made me miss the food!"

"Also, we got dizzy when you were passing us around down there," Usopp added. Luffy pointed at him and nodded, still pouting at Ace and Sabo.

Sabo chuckled, and passed Luffy a plate with three steaks stacked on top over Usopp's head. "Forgive us?"

"Uhhngeh a wahppuh vih."

"Swallow before you speak!" Nami called from the other side of the table instinctively.

Luffy stopped, chewed the steaks, and swallowed them. "Only a little bit."

Ace and Sabo rolled their eyes at each other, knowing he would forget it by nightfall, and returned their attention to their… empty plates?

As Ace began arguing with the Mugiwara captain, Usopp turned to the youngest Wild Card captain and said, "You know, I once learned a secret technique to talk perfectly clearly with your mouth full."

"Nah, really?" Luffy asked.

"Sounds fascinating," said Sabo.

Usopp nodded. "In fact, I'm talking with my mouth full right now!"

"Wow!" Luffy reached forward and grabbed Usopp by the nose, tilting so that he could look in the sniper's mouth. Usopp flailed as he did so. "But… there's no food in here…"

"That's the technique," Usopp said, face still held by Luffy. He tugged on Luffy's hands, trying to pull his nose away until Luffy let go and he fell back with a thud. He quickly picked himself up and sat down again in his chair. "You must hide all the food within the recesses of your gums."

"I wanna try!" Luffy turned back to his plate, only to find that it, like his brothers', was empty. "Huh?"

"He's joking anyway," Sabo said, putting a hand on Luffy's shoulder before his little brother could process the lack of food on his plate. "It's just a joke, Lu. A joke."

Luffy blinked up at his brother a couple times, then laughed. "Oh! I get it!" He turned back to Usopp, grinning. "I like this guy! Where can we find you in our world, huh?"

"Have you ever been to Syrup, in East Blue?" Usopp asked in return, grinning too. Luffy shook his head.

"Then he's dead," the other Luffy cut in suddenly.

Usopp and Luffy stopped. They turned to look at the Mugiwara captain, who had frozen in his almost-wrestling-match with Ace and was staring at them blandly. Ace himself could only blink at his temporary opponent.

"…What?" Usopp asked, wide-eyed at his captain.

"When we met you, those pirates were going to massacre your village." Luffy let go of Ace, letting the older fall into his seat once again. "If they weren't there, the other you must be dead."

The Mugiwaras and the Wild Cards were silent for a second, before Robin chuckled and said, "My, Luffy, it seems you have become quite morbid."

"Oi!" Usopp yelled at her. "Don't smile when you say that! That's _my_ death he's talking about!"

All of a sudden the table was all noise again, the Mugiwaras shouting and laughing and eating. The other three almost didn't know what to do with themselves, until Sanji swooped in with new servings to replace the ones his captain had stolen.

As soon as they were finished, Ace grabbed Sabo and Luffy's arms and dragged them away. As they were leaving, Luffy swore he saw his other self glaring at them.

* * *

><p>"That <em>woman<em>!" Ace said, after he had tossed his brothers into the captain's quarters and shut the door. "What is _up_ with her? I don't trust her. At all."

"Didn't we already talk about this?" Sabo sighed.

"The other Luffy said her friend was dead and she _laughed_!"

"Her friend isn't dead, Ace," said Luffy. "Our version of him is."

"You can't blame her for not being upset about things that happened in our world and not her own," added Sabo. "And — before you even mention it — _no_, there is no way that could be used as evidence that she was Miss All-Sunday."

"Every-Friday," Ace corrected.

"_All-Sunday_," Sabo repeated with more force.

"I don't care what her name is," Ace said. He looked at Luffy. "Didn't you tell us she laughed when she—"

"That's enough, you tactless idiot! Do you want to give him _another_ sleepless night?"

"Actually, I'm more worried about Usopp," Luffy said.

"Yeah," Sabo continued, internally thanking Luffy for the subject change. "I read about the Syrup massacre in the papers two years ago. Only one survivor — some rich family's butler or something."

"Still doesn't sound as bad as your little rampage at Whiskey Peak," Ace said with a snort.

"Are you ever going to let that go? I told you, they drugged you guys! I couldn't just let them get away with it!"

"You didn't have to kill _everyone_!"

Sabo's face coloured. "I was a bit pissed off." Ace and Luffy gave him a look. "…A lot." They traded glances. "…I was _very_ pissed," Sabo admitted finally.

"And trigger happy," Ace finished.

"I was not trigger happy!"

Luffy laughed loudly. "Y'know… when you talk about Robin like she's evil, Ace, just think about what she might think of Sabo, if she heard us talking now."

"She'd think he was a psychopath."

"Shut up! Both of you!"

"Do you really think Usopp is dead?" Luffy interrupted, sobering them both.

"…He could be," Sabo answered. "Well… probably."

"I liked Usopp," Luffy said quietly. He grabbed a pillow from the bed, and hugged it to his chest. "He was my friend."

"The Usopp you met is still alive, birdbrain." Ace swatted him gently on the shoulder. "Don't talk in past tense."

"We could have gone back to East Blue for a while," said Luffy. "We could have gone to Syrup… could have seen if he wanted to join our crew…"

"Hey, it's not so bad," Sabo said gently, sitting down on the bed. He patted the spot next to him, and Luffy came and curled up there. "We've got a good crew already. Usopp has a good crew here, too. It's okay."

"He's dead because we weren't there to help," Luffy pointed out, and Ace took the spot on the other side of him.

Ace didn't say anything. He just pulled Luffy into his lap, allowing the younger to turn and hide his head in the crook of Ace's neck. Sabo reached over and ran his knuckles down Luffy's back, careful around the spine.

"Wanna go somewhere to get your mind off it?" Sabo offered.

Luffy sniffled and nodded.

"We can't exactly go many places, Sabo," said Ace. "Where do you plan on taking him? The bathroom?"

"You're forgetting, this ship is more… novel, than our Andrew." Sabo gave a small grin. "I was thinking the aquarium."

Luffy shifted. "There's an aquarium?"

"I saw it earlier yesterday," Sabo said. Luffy lifted his head, revealing his slightly red eyes that were now filling with curiosity. "Wanna go check it out?"

"…Yeah," Luffy whispered. Ace lifted him and set him on his feet, and then they were off.

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><p>AN: I'm going to keep responding to reviews. I tried to respond to everyone (signed in), but if I missed you, sorry! I can't keep track of every one!

PS: My other story, What You Get For a Milk Carton, which is Ace and Luffy centric, just got a 200 review special! Why not go check out the story if you can? It's quite a bit less popular than this one… I think S&C might reach that amount in about half the time if it keeps going at this rate.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry this came after such a wait! But at least I decided to procrastinate on studying for exams and get this done, or the wait would have been longer.

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><p>It took them a while to find the aquarium. Sabo wouldn't have minded so much if Ace hadn't been teasing him for forgetting the way the whole time, but at the very least Luffy was distracted by poking his head through all the doors. It was Sabo who pushed open the door that revealed their destination; a lounge sort of area with glass tanks filled with water and sea life on all sides.<p>

"Well, _finally_," Ace said as Luffy ooh-ed and ah-ed at the ceiling-high tanks.

Sabo almost thought the room didn't have walls at all, and instead separated the ship from the ocean with a glass sheet. But that would have been impractical; glass was breakable, after all, and the ship carried four devil fruit users — five, including himself.

There was another devil fruit user in the aquarium at that moment, one who made Ace put his guard up on sight. Robin and Nami sat together, taking a pair of attractive-looking drinks from a fawning Sanji.

"Mesdemoiselles~!" the cook cooed. "Your drinks! A fragrant blend of honey and raspberries with some special ingredients, made to perfection by my own hands!"

"Thank you, Sanji-kun," Nami said with a fond exasperation. Meanwhile, Robin simply gave him a small smile.

"Ah, but it is only my pleasure to bring happiness to such beauties as yourselves! I exist to serve!"

"Can I have one?" Luffy asked, breaking the chef out of his noodle-dance.

Sanji was instantly scowling. "Shitty rubber-brain. It's not my duty to slave over you, you entitled piece of—"

"I'd suggest stopping there," Ace interrupted with a scowl to outmatch Sanji's. The chef looked a bit cowed.

Luffy shifted on his feet a little, unsure why he had gotten shut down so completely, but pressed on. "Please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?"

He earned an odd look from the Mugiwaras for his words, but Robin, chuckling, said, "Sanji, why don't you make one for Luffy-san? He is our guest, after all."

"Right away, my queen!" said Sanji, doing a figurative one-eighty and a literal three-sixty as he slipped back into his noodle-dance mode. They all tried to ignore the strange movements of his body as he danced out of the room.

Sabo raised an eyebrow and glanced leadingly at the door. "Mood swings?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Nami said, raising her glass to her mouth. Just before she took a sip, she stopped suddenly and sighed. "I can _see_ you eying my drink, Luffy. I mean, Luffy-san."

Luffy pouted at her.

Nami sighed again. "Take it," she said as she held out the glass. Luffy had grabbed it before she could go on, "I can take the one Sanji brings for you later. Only this once!"

He said something that was probably meant to be "Thank you, Nami," but it was garbled as he had already started drinking.

All of a sudden, Luffy was coughing.

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><p>Breathing while taking a drink was a bad idea, Luffy knew, because liquids were all too eager to jump down airways. Apparently, speaking posed the same problem.<p>

The honey in the drink stuck to the sides of his throat and burnt vaguely — the kind of burn that lacked the heat but held all the pain. It clotted and clogged up and he couldn't breathe anymore—

—_sand in his mouth, crunching between his teeth and sticking where there's blood—_

—_His legs giving out underneath him and he couldn't even breathe—_

There was barely an impact when his knees hit the floor, but it shook him enough that for a second, he wondered how he had come to stand on wood instead of sand.

Another impact — a slender hand on his back — and he was reminded not to think too much, because Miss All-Sunday was still there and he couldn't let himself show her anymore weakness. The first time he had, she—

Something dripped out of his mouth and onto the floor. His breath returned, with reality on its back.

_She_ wasn't there. The hand on his back, too slender to be one of his brothers', could have been Nami's. It could have been Robin's, too, but not _her_. Robin was not Miss All-Sunday, no matter what resemblance.

Sabo and Ace were crouching down in front of him.

"Are you alright?" Sabo asked as soon as he saw Luffy regain some lucidity.

"U- uh-huh…" The glass was somehow still clutched, half-full, in his hand. His gaze lingered on it until Ace laid a hand on his wrist; he looked up to find that Ace kept glancing at something over Luffy's shoulder. Luffy turned his head to look.

Emerging from his hip was a pale arm—

—_Arms—_

—_growing off his own body and holding him down—_

—that disappeared in a flurry of petals the moment he saw it.

The glass dropped.

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><p>"Jesus," Sabo muttered, looking at the empty space where Luffy had only just stood. "He runs fast when he wants to…"<p>

"We have to find him," Ace said with a glare in Robin's direction.

"I'm coming too," said Nami, pushing herself to her feet. Robin began to stand up, but Nami stilled her by putting a hand to her shoulder. "No offense, Robin, but maybe you should stay here." She flicked her eyes to the brothers pointedly.

"Quite right," Robin agreed with a small smile. "I shall just have to wait for this to be resolved, then."

Sabo watched Ace shifting unsurely, confused but still suspicious. The woman really knew how to disguise her motives, if she had any at all. The amused look she favoured them with cemented the idea that she was intentionally screwing with their minds at that moment.

Before they even noticed her moving, Nami was already at the door. "Are you coming or not?"

"Right," said Ace. He grabbed Sabo's wrist and dragged him away.

Sabo didn't look back, but he could practically see the expression Robin must have had. He didn't think he could trust her anymore.

"Where would he have gone?" Nami asked, putting a stop to his thoughts.

Sabo scratched his head. "Well, if he wanted to hide from someone back on our ship, he would get Perona to hide him in the women's quarters…"

Nami paused. "…Perona?"

"Yeah," said Ace. "She can't resist anything cute."

"Oh." Nami's brow was furrowed, and Sabo got the feeling she knew more about their 'interior decorator' than she was saying. He wondered what Perona's counterpart was like. "Well, he wouldn't be in the women's quarters here. Especially if he's smart enough to realise he's trying to avoid one of the girls who sleep there…" she trailed off. "…He's smart enough to realise that, right?"

The brothers exchanged a glance.

"Maybe?" Sabo said with a shrug.

"Of course." Nami brought up a hand to rub her temple. "We won't cross it off the list."

"He could be anywhere, really. He has no idea where he's going on this ship," Sabo pointed out.

Ace nodded. "Yeah, he's probably wandering around lost right now."

"Lost? Great. We can send Zoro after him."

"Huh? The green-haired guy?" asked Ace. "Why him?"

"Forget I said anything," Nami muttered, arms crossed. Sabo could have sworn a vein on her forehead was standing out. "So he could be basically anywhere?"

"Anywhere," Sabo confirmed.

"Probably anywhere that smells like food," Ace added, one hand holding his own stomach. "Is it just me who's hungry here?"

Sabo groaned and rolled his eyes. "You _just_ ate, Ace."

"If I'm hungry, Luffy has to be hungry too." Ace patted his stomach as if he were proud of its wisdom. "_Logic_."

Nami rubbed her chin, looking around. "The quickest way to the galley from here…" After a second, she pointed down the hall to their right. "That way."

"Wait, wait, wait—" Sabo held up a hand. "—Are you telling me we are _literally_ going with his gut?"

"What else can we do?"

"We could, um…" Sabo wished he weren't so clearly struggling for ideas that Ace stuck out a smug tongue at him. "Not?"

Nami lifted a brow, unimpressed.

"Fine, fine," he grumbled. "Do what you want, then."

"Can we hurry?" Ace asked, eyes darting up and down the corridor as if it would lead them straight to Luffy. "I'm seriously worried about him…"

Nami led them down a few halls and up some stairs, until they reached the empty galley.

"Hello?" Nami called. "Sanji-kun? Are you here?"

Having been summoned, Sanji's head peeked around the wall that separated the kitchen from the galley. "Nami-swan? …And guests," he added, catching sight of Ace and Sabo. "How can I serve you, my dear? I must warn you, if you wish something cooked, it may have to wait until the shitty cyborg has stopped tampering with my oven—"

"I'm making it SUPER!" Franky objected from behind the wall.

"By tampering."

"Have either of you seen Luffy?" Ace asked. "_Please_ tell me you have."

Franky appeared next to Sanji, wiping… _something_ from his hands off on a kerchief. He lifted the pair of goggles he was wearing away from his eyes. "Which one, bro?"

"It doesn't matter which one," Sanji said around his cigarette. "Neither of them have been by since breakfast, by some miracle. Wasn't one with you?"

"Yeah, but we, uh…" Sabo looked away, feeling a bit stupid for the words he was about to say. "We lost him?"

"You lost a Luffy," Sanji deadpanned. "Somehow I'm not surprised."

Nami cleared her throat.

"Ah, that was not directed at you, my love!" Sanji cooed. "I was simply calling those two imbeciles for losing their brother! I'm sure you had an exhausting job trying to keep them in check; come, let me massage your tired feet!"

"That's alright, Sanji-kun," Nami demurred. "We need to find Luffy-san quickly."

Franky had moved over to the door while they were talking, and was peering out the small window. "Well, _one_ of them is out on the deck. Can't tell which, but he doesn't look very happy…"

Sabo moved over to join him at the window, and sure enough, he could see Luffy; the boy was over at the railing, facing out to sea. He was slumped a little, shoulders hunched, with no one nearby but a sleeping swordsman on the other side of the grassy deck. Sabo could only see his back.

"What are we waiting for?" Ace asked, budging past Sabo and Franky to throw the door open. He was running over before they could blink. "Luffy! Hey!"

"Ace, wait!"

Ace had already reached the startled Luffy. His switch into his doting, comforting big brother-mode was surprisingly quick; he pulled Luffy into his arms without a second to spare and started rubbing small circles on the boy's back. "Hey, kiddo, you okay? We're here for you. You can always talk to us, you know."

Luffy's arms hesitated for a few seconds, before slowly wrapping around Ace's back. However, Sabo was in the position to notice something Ace wasn't: this Luffy's arms were draped in flared red sleeves. It wasn't their Luffy, but the Mugiwara captain.

"You are okay, right?" Ace asked, tucking the Mugiwara Luffy's head under his chin.

"Um, yeah…" said Luffy.

Sabo and Nami left Franky and Sanji behind in the galley. They jogged over to the two, just in time to watch Luffy's fingers curl, as if twisting into the fabric of Ace's nonexistent shirt.

Nami looked intensely concerned. "Ace, that's…"

"Hm?" Ace responded, but it was clear he wasn't really paying attention to her. To Luffy, he went on, "I know what that woman did must have freaked you out a lot… but, she's not here right now. She stayed put back in the aquarium, so—"

"_Ace_!" Sabo snapped when he finally got fed up. "That's the _other_ Luffy!"

"The…" Ace trailed off, looking between the irritation on Sabo's face to the worry on Nami's. "…Oh."

"…What do you mean by 'that woman'?" Luffy asked, muffled, because he still hadn't pulled out of Ace's embrace. He still managed to convey a tone that edged on fury. "_Robin_?"

"Er, well—" Ace jolted to a stop as he was pushed away suddenly.

"No! What have you got against Robin, huh?! I've seen you give her dirty looks, but she never did anything to you!"

"She hurt you," Ace answered instinctively.

"That's a lie," said Luffy.

"…It's not," Sabo had to say, no matter how stupid he thought Ace was being. "She got you alone, a- and… your back…"

"No," Luffy said forcefully, "that's what _the other her_ did to _the other me_. Robin did nothing! She's a good person and I'm sick of you acting like she's gonna snap and kill you!"

"I agree," Nami added. "Robin's our friend. You don't have to trust her as much as we do, but you treat her like she's a bomb."

"I've been trying to trust her, but…" Sabo stopped himself. How could he explain what had made him lose any trust he had had when it was only vague feelings?

"Your prejudices got in the way?" Nami supplied, her frown growing. Sabo felt his shame grow in response.

Ace opened his mouth, but Luffy glared at him until he closed it again.

"…Luffy…" Sabo said weakly, which only resulted in the glare turning on him instead. It lasted a couple seconds before Luffy turned away.

"I'm going," he announced, striding off in the direction of the galley. His hands curled into fists as he went, not shooting even a dirty look over his shoulder, and Nami followed his lead.

Ace and Sabo looked at each other, unsure and slightly shell-shocked, before looking back to where Luffy and Nami were nearly inside.

"Luffy, wait!" Ace tried.

Luffy did, indeed, stop and look back at them. Behind the anger in his eyes, Sabo thought he saw two kinds of pain; one was the kind he knew came from betrayal, but the other, he couldn't identify.

"_Don't_," was all Luffy said, stern and precise, and disappeared through the door.

The brothers glanced at each other again, and when they looked back, Nami was nowhere to be seen.

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><p>Meanwhile, the Wild Card Luffy had waited, sequestered near the aquarium, until he was sure his brothers were far out of range. He counted himself lucky that Nami had gone with them, too — himself and Robin alone was possibly the ideal.<p>

He got the feeling he was being watched. It was probably Robin. The idea of finding her eye gazing at him from the wall or ceiling made him shudder, so he didn't look.

Instead, he merely slipped right back through the aquarium door. Sure enough, Robin sat right where he had last seen her, a book sitting in her lap. Had that been there before? If it had, he hadn't noticed.

"Welcome back," she greeted, entirely unsurprised. A bookmark seemingly materialised in the pages of her tome, which then slid out of view. Her smile was kind.

"Hello," he said back, in more of a mutter than he meant to, as he approached and took a seat across from her. He cleared his throat and tried again, "Hi, Robin."

"Hi, Luffy-san," Robin replied, her smile all the same. "Is something the matter?"

"I… No. Yeah." Luffy looked down, eyes glazing over the carpet, and said, "I just… wanna ask you some things."

"About?" she prompted.

"…You," he admitted, looking down again. "And, how you're different from the 'you' I've known."

"Of course," she said, gracious, and when Luffy looked up he saw her tilted her head. "And of course, you will answer some questions in kind, yes?"

"Yeah," he answered through his dry throat. "Yeah, I will."

Robin kept smiling.

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><p>AN: Hope you like! I'm not sure how promptly I will be able to respond to reviews, considering the exam thing, but I will do my best. Please don't feel offended if I miss yours, I almost certainly didn't do it on purpose.


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